


Inked

by bloatedpeep



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28800054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloatedpeep/pseuds/bloatedpeep
Summary: She-Ra tattoo competition show AU with Double Trouble and Huntara as the judges. Everyone else tagged is a contestant.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	1. The Bus Ride

Catra is the first one to be picked up by the bus headed to the bubble. She's glad, she gets to pick whatever seat she wants and scope out the competition as they get on. She picks a seat in the very back and on the right, opening the window to get the fresh air flowing around her. She hasn't left the house at all in ten days, as agreed with the producers of the show. In order to do a competition tattoo show during a pandemic, they had to set it up like a camp almost. Everyone would quarantine by themselves for ten days prior, and then would get picked up and brought to a hotel near the garage that their tattoo spaces would be. They wouldn't be able to see anyone or go anywhere for the whole six weeks, and the only people in the hotel would also be living under that rule.

Honestly, Catra is excited to be secluded for at least a week away from the world, alone in her room with her pen and paper creating designs and happy customers. Her life has been nonstop lately, and she hopes that the show will be nonstop in a different type of way. 

The next person to get on the bus is a young man with bright and excited eyes, who immediately spots her and starts coming towards her. She prays that he doesn't sit next to her, there are plenty of seats on the bus, and is thankful but still a little resentful when he sits in the spot in front of her, turning around to talk to her immediately. She withholds a sigh. This is what normal people do when they're going to be stuck together for over a month. Introduce themselves.

Speaking of, the guy is holding his hand over the seat to shake hers. She takes it and notices with a little surprise that his nails are purple. So is the top of his hair. And the ends of his eyebrows? Actually, giving his face a closer look, he has a ring on the side of his nose, another two in his eyebrow, and studs lining his ears. She can see the top of a definitely large tattoo peeking out of his neckline, but he has on a hoodie and pants so she can't see if he has any others.

"Hi, I'm Bow! It's great to meet you! I'm super excited to be on the show." Woah. Dude is really enthusiastic. She smiles though, he's a little endearing. 

"Catra. It's good to meet you too. Yeah, it's quite the ride, right?" She rubs the back of her neck nervously. She hasn't talked to another person in quite a while, and even when she did she wasn't very great at it. She isn't sure if he picks up on that, but his next words are,

"Speaking of rides, long drives like this make me super nervous, so I'm going to turn on this audio book until the next person gets here if you don't mind." She flashes him a real smile now, thinking that interacting with people might not be all that bad if it all goes like this. 

"No of course, go ahead." He turns around and they don't talk again the bus picks up someone else. She's a tall and willowy woman wearing a sheer scarf over a pastel green gown. She's very pretty, Catra notes, but definitely not the type of person she usually hangs around.

The girl notices them with a smile and comes to sit at the back of the bus, in the seat across from Catra's. Bow takes out his headphones to greet her, and she introduces herself as Perfuma. Catra gives her a wave and a light smile, met by a blinding one from the girl who now that she was nearer, reeked of something a little medicinal. Catra makes note of that with a little grin. Perfuma doesn't try to start a conversation after Bow explains his audio book situation, and Catra is grateful. 

The next time the bus stops two women get on, holding hands. All three of the people already on the bus stare as they come to the back of the bus, sitting in the booth in front of Perfuma. 

"Hi! I'm Spinnerella and this is my wife Netossa."

"You guys are married?" Catra blurts out.

"Yes, we got married a little over five years ago and we both discovered baking together." Netossa says. 

"Wow, you two must have strong love if you can come on a competition show like this!" Perfuma exclaims excitedly. 

"Please, with Netossa everything is a competition. At least this way we get to be on TV." Netossa shoves her wife's shoulder, laughing good naturedly.

"Hey!"

Perfuma engages them in a conversation about their wedding and Catra tunes them out, once again, not really her thing. 

Next comes a girl named Mermista who Catra instantly likes because she doesn't try to talk to her at all, and after that two women named Scorpia and Entrapta get on together, apparently living in the same apartment. Scorpia is loud and talks to everyone, and Entrapta is loud and talks to no one. Catra eyes Scorpia's claws, wondering if they make it hard to tattoo, and she notices. 

"I know they look hard to work with but I promise I make it happen! You'll see." 

The next is a girl named Glimmer, _really?_ who has silver stars so professionally dyed into her pink and purple hair that they take on a shimmer when they catch the light. Bow gains a pink hue when she climbs onto the bus and Catra grins dangerously. 

The next time that the bus stops three people climb on who clearly know each other already, who introduce themselves as Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio. Well, Kyle introduces Rogelio, who can't speak human words. Catra is glad to know that she won't be the only non human on the show. They sit together and talk among themselves. 

They're well outside of the city and pretty nearby the hotel by the time they stop to pick up the final contestant. The door opens and a tall, muscular blonde steps on the bus, wearing a thin white tank top that shows off a plethora of tattoos, more than anyone else that had got on the bus, more than Catra even. Baggy blue jeans hide what Catra bets are equally tattooed legs. She's huge, with a sharp jaw and sharp, slit eyebrows, and pale blue eyes that make her seem almost cold. They rake over the competition, pausing on Catra for a moment, which snaps her out of her staring. The blonde seems to come to herself then, light filling her eyes as she turns to the bus driver and holds up her hand, which is holding a small wad of cash. 

"I totally forgot this isn't a regular public bus with fare!" She says excitedly, almost tripping over the words. The short lived facade of the cool and collected woman in front of them shatters. Her grin is too big for anyone to be mad at, and after she thanks the bus driver profusely and looks at all the full seats on the bus, everyone sitting by themselves except for Catra offer their seats, who figures she doesn't need to since the girl has plenty of offers. She takes the one next to Glimmer and after complimenting her hair profusely, introduces herself to the group as Adora. It's a cute name, Catra thinks with a grin. The girl, _Adora_ , catches it, grinning back at her blindly. Catra scoffs again, turning back to her phone to keep messing around. _What an idiot_.


	2. The First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the first challenge

Catra stretches out, not used to the hotel bed that is huge in comparison to the one she has in her shitty apartment. The sheets are smoother, too, and she's never needed this many pillows but she supposes since they're here she'll use them. She cracks one eye open, groaning when she sees the time. She only has two hours until it's time to start filming. 

She pulls on a hoodie and joggers that match, finding easy shoes and grabbing her room key before she heads downstairs, grumbling about _how can a hotel not put coffee makers in the rooms_ and rubbing her bleary eyes. She hopes that no one will be in the dining area, and is disappointed to see almost half of the team eating together at one long cafeteria table. Perfuma raises a hand cheerfully and waves at her. 

"Hey Catra!" The rest of the heads in the room glance at her. Mermista barely spares her a look, hunched over a coffee cup at one end of the table, looking like she isn't ready to talk to anyone at all. Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle have taken the other end, all eating and barely speaking. Entrapta is staring down at a tablet and putting dry cheerios in her mouth one at a time. Catra picks the safest bet, grabbing her coffee and sitting across from Entrapta. As she hoped, the purple haired girl doesn't even look up at her. The room is pretty much silent until Bow, Scorpia, and Adora all come in together, wearing workout clothes. Mermista glares at them, tired lines practically radiating from her. 

"You guys were at the _gym_? Already?!?" She asks loudly. The three enthusiastic, buff dorks beam at her, and all three together exclaim,

"Work out squad!" Catra snorts, and Adora's eyes jump to her, her smile only growing. Catra finds herself unable to resist smiling back, and the girl lights up seeing it. The three grab their food and move to sit down. Scorpia sits next to Entrapta, quickly greeting her, and Bow sits across from Scorpia, next to Catra, who tries not to be bothered but stiffens anyway. She curses herself, how does she manage to do tattoos? Adora's eyes soften watching her and Catra almost feels vulnerable, knowing that this stranger had picked up on her discomfort. Adora takes the seat next to Entrapta instead of her with a gentle smile though, and Catra is grateful. She wonders at the silence of the interaction, the fact that they just had a moment that no one in the room had picked up on. Scorpia and Bow engage Perfuma in a conversation about her own morning routine, while Catra and Adora eat silently, stealing glances at each other here and there. 

They pile into the bus again for only about ten minutes before they pull up to the garage where all of their work spaces are. Catra looks at hers in awe, her own room. She's been doing tattoos out of her own apartment for as long as she's lived there, with too many bills to add an office space to it. Adora has a similar look of awe, grinning from her own doorway. They only have a few minutes to set their things down and regroup to start shooting. They'll do introductions, personal bits, and confessionals about the day tomorrow. Today, all thirteen of them stand in a group and wait for their hosts to join them. 

First comes a older woman, all grizzle and grit. Raging lesbian, with tattoos covering every visible part of her body except her face, which has a cresent moon around her left eye. Even her hands have spiderwebs across the palms and an eye on the back of each, one closed and one open. She's almost scary, but her face cracks open in a friendly grin. 

"Hello all, my name is Huntara, and I will be one of the people judging you for the next few weeks. I've been tattooing and receiving tattoos for forty-seven years now. I have over 200 tattoos, and I'm excited to see what you all will be able to show me." Looking around, Catra can see that everyone takes Huntara just as seriously as she does. Even Mermista's face is focused and attentive, something that Catra had bet just yesterday would never happen.

A thin, discernible creature steps out from behind Huntara. With pointed ears, sharp teeth, and a long tail, it was impossible to tell what they really were. They gave the group a thin, toothy smile, and everyone at once realizes Huntara is not the one to fear out of the two. 

"Hello, cuties. Wow, you're all just so cute! Aren't they cute, Huntara?" Huntara glares at them, and they roll their eyes. " _Fine._ Anyway, I've been tattooing for ten years, and I'm _very_ picky about what I like, so you better all be providing your best work." They cast their toothy grin on the group again, and they all nod together. 

"We're excited to welcome you to the first season of Inked!" Huntara exclaims. "In the next month and a half you will face many challenges. Every week you will have a timed challenge and a regular challenge, and at the end of the week, whoever provided the weakest tattoos will be sent home. One thing to remember, whoever wins the timed challenge will receive immunity for the week, which means you're safe even if you completely bomb the next challenge."

"Now!" DT gathers their attention. "For your very first challenge, you will have an hour to tattoo whatever stencil your client already has printed. This isn't a challenge of creativity, but technical precision. We want to see straight lines, and professional work. Your clients are in your workrooms. Go!" Everyone immediately makes their way to their workrooms. Somehow, while they were being introduced to the hosts, clients had been escorted to their rooms and left there. A kind, plump woman sits in her client chair. She hands over the stencil, already printed, and explains that she wants it on her left shoulder blade. Catra looks down at the paper and lets out a breath full of tension. It bleeds out of her as she stares down at the simple skull design with a cigar in it's mouth. She grins, preparing the woman's shoulder for the stencil and laying it out. 

"I'm really grateful, this is going to be a really easy tattoo to finish in the time frame. I appreciate it." She says to the woman, who smiles and starts telling her about how she's getting it because of a dare from her brother. Now in her tattooing brain, Catra manages small talk like a pro. 

For a while, the sound of thirteen tattoo guns is all she hears. Then a call for half an hour, which is nice, because Catra will definitely finish in the next fifteen minutes. Her client seems pleased with her speed as well, and she's excited to be doing so well on the first challenge. 

When she's done, she takes her client to get photographed and walks around, looking to see if anyone else has finished. She finds that she's the only one who has, that Perfuma works with her tongue sticking out of her mouth, and Mermista hums something that sounds surprisingly like sea shanty. 

When time is called, everyone has finished, but Double Trouble lets it slip that it'll all be cut to look like everyone barely finished. Catra hadn't gotten to see anyone elses work, but she felt very confident. 

An hour later, they're all lined up in front of their judges. 

"Spinnerella, please step forward." Says Huntara. She does so nervously, barely avoiding tripping over her long cloak. "Spinerella, you were given a client who wanted a whole song tattooed on his back." The picture flashes onto the screen. "The best thing about this tattoo is I can read it. It can be so hard to get small lyrics to stand out like this. You weren't afraid to thicken up these lines and you managed it all within the time limit. It's a good, basic tattoo." Spinnerella huffs a sigh of relief, and scoots to take her place in the line, smiling when Netossa takes her hand. 

"Netossa, you next, darling." Calls Double Trouble. Netossa stands confidently in front of them. "Your client wanted a Calvin and Hobbes comic straight from the book across his bicep. Did you run into any difficulty doing this tattoo?" Netossa shakes her head. 

"No, it was fairly simple. I was only worried about time, but it turned out to be fine." 

"Well, I do like the tattoo. But, I also see that you were rushed in areas." They point to the tattoo on the screen, circling parts. "This line right here could be way straighter, and your blacks aren't as dark as they should be." Netossa nods, confident demeanor shot, and moves to stand in the line again. 

"Glimmer." Glimmer practically prances to stand in front of them all. "Glimmer, I can't really say anything other than this was a good tattoo. Your client wanted his own art on his calf, and you replicated it perfectly. Your lines aren't exactly great, but if they were perfect lines they wouldn't fit the picture. You made an artistic choice and it paid off." Glimmer literally squeals before getting back into the line. 

"Bow." Double Trouble pauses while staring at Bow's tattoo of the Empire State building on the screen. "This is a wonderful tattoo. This is great color work, great lines, great art. You've gotten every line to lay straight even though the tattoo wraps around this bony wrist, and the shading is crazy good. You're showing everyone here that you plan to make it to the end of this show." Bow looks bashful as he steps into line. 

"Entrapta." Scorpia has to nudge her before she realizes she needs to step forward. "By the time we looked at your photo we realized that this group of tattooists is probably the best we've ever had. Entrapta, this is an impressive tattoo. Tattooing a neck can be complicated, especially since your client wanted the design to go all the way up to the chin. But this is cool. When he lifts his head, there's really a tiny octopus there, attached to his neck." Entrapta is absolutely beaming as she steps back. 

"Scorpia." Scorpia steps forward and does a little salute to the judges. "Scorpia, you had to tattoo chains under your clients breasts. How do you feel you did?" The tattoo appears on the screen and everyone seems a bit shocked at how good it is. 

"I think I did an alright job!" Scorpia says, scratching the back of her head nervously. 

"You did a fantastic job." Scorpia breathes out a sigh of relief. "To achieve a tattoo as realistic as this in an hour is an incredible accomplishment. You should be proud." Scorpia does look proud as she steps back into the line.

"Catra." Catra saunters in front of the line, trying to project confidence when in all reality, after seeing the rest of the tattoos, she was a little less sure of herself. "Catra, your client wanted a simple skull smoking a cigar. You nailed it, and quickly, too. This was an easy tattoo, but that doesn't discount how good it is. This is very professional." Catra tries to restrain her grin while stepping back into the line.

"Perfuma." Perfuma quickly takes her place. "Your client wanted a coy fish on his calf. This is that. The final product is good but," Huntara points to a rough area in the head of the fish, "it's also clear that you were a bit heavy handed. You've chewed up his skin there. It'll take longer to heal." Perfuma nods, stepping back into the line calmly. 

"Mermista. This is a larger tattoo than a lot of people could do in your time limit, especially with the vibrancy of the watercolor you have here. Very impressive. Your lines could use a bit of work though." DT zooms in on some of the less defined lines. 

"Kyle, come on up." Kyle stumbles a bit but it's not too bad. "Kyle, this is a good tattoo. Your client wanted a snow globe full of personal memories, and I can piece some of them together just by looking at this. It's great work." He can't hide his grin as he steps back into the line. 

"Lonnie. Lonnie, this is a small tattoo, but will incredibly fine detail. Your lines are sharp and precise, and just as bold as they need to be everywhere. You nailed this tattoo." Lonnie smirks down the line, but it softens when she sees Kyle beaming at her. 

"Rogelio." Rogelio takes his place, everyone in the line behind him seeing his hands nervously tapping on his back. "Rogelio, your design was a little complicated. It looks unfinished." Rogelio looks at the ground in shame. Double Trouble seems to take pity on him. "This will not be the first time that someone doesn't finish the timed challenge. I hope that you've learned a lesson about time conservation. Otherwise, this is a very good tattoo." Rogelio nods and steps back. 

"Adora." Adora steps forward, and the first thing Catra sees is the posture of a soldier. The girl is straight and stiff, hands clasped behind her back. Catra is sure that if she walked up to the woman and tried to push her over right now, she'd have as much success as she would on a boulder. Huntara smiles as the picture flashes on the screen. Catra hears multiple gasps across the line, and barely restrains her own. The tattoo is massive, colorful, and beautiful. The design is simple, an angel's wing covers the right side of his chest, white ink standing out on the skin, a light yellow glow emanating from the edges. It's soft and unique. 

"Adora, this is impressive. I know that when that tattoo was accepted, that it wasn't this big. Tell me what happened." 

"Well, my client mentioned that his first thought for this tattoo was a chest piece instead of the bicep tattoo because the producers asked him to size it down for the time limit, but he still asked them to print both stencils in case I thought I could do it, and I did. The design and lines wouldn't take much more time to size up, the real challenge was getting in all the color on time." Huntara leaves them in silence for a moment. 

"There's no point in dancing around it, darling." Double Trouble says. "Everyone here knows it. You take the cake on this tattoo. You've received immunity for the week." Catra watches as Adora's posture slackens the tiniest bit, and she thanks the judges before getting back into the line. 

"Every one of you here did a good job today. You're a great batch of tattooists." Huntara says. "Tomorrow you will meet with someone who wants a tattoo but doesn't have a specific design. You will have the day to create a tattoo with your client, and the next day you will tattoo it. Keep your design down to something you will be able to complete within your client's time frame, they might only have six hours and they might have a whole day. Now, get back to the hotel." Everyone files out of the workspace and back towards the bus. 

Catra watches as half the crew rush to fawn over Adora and congratulate on her tattoo and scoffs. Since when are reality shows full of nice people? She'd been looking forward to trading barbs with someone at least. She looks over at Mermista, who is looking at the scene with a bored disdain, and starts to form an idea. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they will talk in the next chapter I promise

**Author's Note:**

> lmk what you think


End file.
